Mount James Walker

Mount James Walker – September 17, 2006

Mountain height:   3035 m
Elevation gain:      1200 m
Ascent time:          7:05
Descent time:        4:10

Scrambling and a little mountaineering with Mark.

We knew the week’s heavy snowfall would probably add a little challenge to yet another attempt of elusive Mount James Walker, but we certainly weren’t expecting a full-on mountaineering experience. Luckily, we were prepared with the proper gear to handle that scenario (probably not that surprising since we seem to drag along everything we have on most ascents as of late).

I didn’t think the odds were on our side for making this summit: our first attempt was a route-finding fiasco that turned into a nail-biting and unnerving ascent of the minor highpoint to the north; number two was a ski mountaineering attempt, but in all fairness, more of a reconnaissance mission (and the weather really did suck!); my third attempt, with Kevin Barton, was going smoothly until I decided to spray myself in the face with bear spray and had to turn around, due to my face feeling like it had been lit of fire! With the new snow (and lots of it), this had all the making of another Mount Nestor (a peak that took 5 attempts to finally reach the top).

The first section of the trip was easy, as much of the snow, previously on the trail, had melted. A bear had also very graciously broken trail for us (probably the day before or very early in the day) and even took the turn-off to the lake. In fact, his/her footprints went past the lake, up the headwall and then into the beautiful valley between James Walker and Mount Inflexible to the south – exactly where we were going.

Once at the lake, the depth of the snow started to increase dramatically and was knee to waist deep by the time we reached the base of the mountain. This slowed our progress considerably and I thought, for sure, we would suffer our third failure (my fourth). Nevertheless, the scenery was stunning, even in less than perfect weather conditions and once again reminded us of how infinitely more beautiful the Rockies are in winter (except for the Waterton and Castle Crown areas, where snow serves only to hide the magnificent rock colours – in my opinion!).

Pessimistically, we started up the main ascent slope. Very quickly, the ascent turned into mountaineering. The snow was very deep and the slope was steep enough that a slip or starting an avalanche would have been very serious. Thankfully, this was short-lived and after Mark led us up the steepest section of the lower mountain, we found ourselves on more gentle terrain. Still, the depth of the snow didn’t decrease and the slope was incredibly foreshortened. It seemed to take forever for us to slog up to the ridge.

We finally gained the ridge to a stunningly white vista to the east. The Opal Range was plastered in snow and absolutely beautiful to look at. Again, I thought there was no chance of us reaching the summit, but after putting on our crampons, we decided to continue on. The ridge was long, but spectacular, with an airy drop to the left, reminiscent of Mount St. Nicholas . Travel was slow - again due to the snow and occasional need to belay each other. The crampons were essential and very effective on the snow/slab/scree terrain. Though the west had completely clouded over, at this point, there were some sunny breaks ahead and this seemed to motivate us a little.

One section was quite exposed and we set up a belay, but after that, the remainder of the ascent was easy. We arrived at the summit in excellent spirits and an even better summit view. On a clear day, this view would have been phenomenal, especially with all the fresh snow. The west continued to be cloudy, but the alternating periods of cloud and sun were visually breath-taking in their own way.

We didn’t stay at the top for too long, as the ascent had taken 2 hours longer than expected. For descent, after eyeing-up an obvious alternate descent route that went almost straight down into the valley and then along the valley bottom, we opted to return the way we came. The prospect of wading through a kilometre or two of waist-deep snow in the valley, back to the start of the ascent route, was a quick deterrent. Going back along the ridge was probably the highlight of the day. The weather improved a little and the scenery on the ridge was stunning. This time, our travel was slow, not due to the snow, but innumerable photo opportunities that we were more than happy to be afforded.

The descent of the foreshortened slope was mercifully quick and easy and the crux, steep section didn’t seem that difficult at all (of course, that’s because we had already made a trail for ourselves and just had to walk down in our own footsteps). An almost perfect day – only the frustrating news that the Rams had lost to the 49er’s in the second week of the NFL season put a damper on things!